Poseidon's silver ph1

[Poseidonsr]

120k miles, 172 ph1, silver, 3rd owner.
Mostly unmodified, final exhaust, cone filter without the box and koni dampers are the only modification it is supposed to have.
Weight reduction has already started.
Spare wheel/tools, radio/sound system, mats, engine cover and parcel shelf are gone.
Battery changed to lithium.

 

[Poseidonsr]

Day 2
-Driver's seat lowered (14mm spacer removed)
-Converted to "4seater" - passenger's seat removed (20Kg w/o belt)

 

[Coops Mk1]

Pics? All project threads need pics

 

[Poseidonsr]

Pics? All project threads need pics

you are right
prepare yourself

 

[Poseidonsr]

I present you the car...

 

[Poseidonsr]

I chose silver because temperatures in Hellas are as you know.
some previous weight reduction media

 

[Poseidonsr]

driver's seat spacers
passengers airbag
rear wiper
rear shock absorbers covers
isofix bar
engine hanging "weight"

 

[Poseidonsr]

extra wheel
tools
sound
mats
engine cover
luggage shelf (with extra speakers)

 

[Poseidonsr]

- ecu mount
- battery mount
- ventilation hoses
- coins
- passenger's sunshade
- !!!!!!!

 

[Poseidonsr]

Also
- changed right axial joint to SKF (50gr heavier)
- sanded alcantara to an acceptable condition
- fixed central ventilation grilles with 9 pins
- printed a deep shelf for central console
- fixed power windows switches (mainly cleaning and greasing)
- fixed luggage compartment lock which was stuck
- cleaned a lot of dirt between the floor and sound proofing

 

[Poseidonsr]

I made 10mm aluminum stub spacers and installed them using factory bolts

 

[Poseidonsr]

using an endoscopic camera, I identified steering rack manufacturer (SMI)
I was 99% sure it was an SMI (replaced axial joint was SMI compatible), but I wanted to be 100%

 

[Poseidonsr]

- found and fixed an oil leak from the exhaust camshaft plug
- fixed an oily mess with the gearbox speed sensor (usually not working), changing wires to silicone, putting some heat shrink and a new connector
- checked compression (results: 200-201-200-202)
- checked for leaks in the combustion chamber (results: 15%-16-28-27)
- changed the factory hose for the K&N filter to a 45o silicone (waiting for a ram & cold air box) and a small filter for the idle valve upside down
- cleaned a crazy mess of sealant everywhere on the inlet manifold and put some new gaskets
- grinded some imperfections from the casting of the inlet manifold (-30gr), sand blasted and coated with varnish for less dirt buildup

 

[Poseidonsr]

- rear engine mount changed to powerflex (90gr heavier)
- made 3 pairs of wheel spacers (6,8&10mm) for offset experiments, 8*10 won't let the wheel center properly on the hub, so 6mm is now on and the steering is undoubtedly improved
- deleted the weight near front right engine mount & carbon canister

 

[Poseidonsr]

- front passenger seatbelt gone
- rear middle passenger seatbelt and head rest also deleted (new lower brackets for remaining belts) which makes it a 3 seater now

 

[Poseidonsr]

- steering rack bushing changed to powerflex
That was not so easy because being a left hand drive, the bigger side of the rack (where steering column attaches) comes very close to the gear box.
As a result the dogbone should be detached, and the front gearbox mount loosened so that the engine/gearbox could rock 2-3 cm further away from the rack
Then the lower rack mount M8 bolt was released through the hole on the subframe and the upper M6 loosened. Right side was easy and fast but left side took some time for the new bush to slide between the rack and the mount.
I'm not sure about the result/improvement, it may be only placebo. In any case I did not expect something dramatic and it definitely wasn't.

 

[Poseidonsr]

- bulkhead heatshield caught (low intensity) fire, fortunately without any serious collateral damage. Replaced with aluminized fiberglass fabric, steel "nuts" and a piece of reflective aluminum

 

[Poseidonsr]

- gearbox aluminum upper mount trimmed for weight saving and clearance for future ramair and battery location
- new febi elastic upper gearbox bushing

 

[Coops Mk1]

Some serious work going into weight saving here.

How come retaining rear seats? Is so it complies for certain classes of racing once completed?

 

[Poseidonsr]

No plans for racing
Rear seats remain for my kids
They are much lighter than front seat while they accommodate 2 kids instead of 1. Also the weight distribution is better (rear biased)

 

[Poseidonsr]

- fuel delivery inertia switch relocated (some steel deleted)
- 13Ah Lithium battery insulated and relocated (cables from fuse box rerouted)
- New battery to earth cable & new earth point
- ECU relocated
Space for ramair is ready !!

 

[Poseidonsr]

scenic gear shift lever was modified
- with an aluminum sleeve for a tighter fit
- bent to 20o (slightly more than the original RS) for improved position
- a spherical 60mm knob was printed and pressed on the lever
and replaced the original lever
very satisfied, much tighter, better position, fits better to my hand, looks like it was meant to be there !!

 

[Poseidonsr]

front antiroll bar mounts changed to powerflex,
5gr weight savings and a slightly tighter front end, nothing spectacular
relatively easy job, only 4 bolts released, the inner left bushing was hard to access, but with the right tools and some help from the hydraulic jack it was ready in no time.

 

[Poseidonsr]

I made a light steel base for a racebox mini (it has magnets to stay in place) and bolt it to the center of the dashboard
(measurements coming)

 

[Poseidonsr]

So, I measured the 0-100km/h for general reference and the 60-140Km/h in 3rd (no gear change) for reference when comparing modifications.
0-100: 6,8s (average tarmac / goodish gear change)
60-140: 10,6
Not very happy with these results, just OK😐

 

[Filipe Dias]

If you can measure the 60-160 Km/h i have over 150 stats from some cars i have measured. I use dragy.

I start and 2nd gear ate about 40km/h all the way to 160 Km/h (needs 4th gear).

 

[Poseidonsr]

If you can measure the 60-160 Km/h i have over 150 stats from some cars i have measured. I use dragy.

I start and 2nd gear ate about 40km/h all the way to 160 Km/h (needs 4th gear).

I will include that to the next test session

 

[Seymour1983]

Interested when you say not happy with the times etc and all the extent your going to but no intention to race what's driving it?

 

[Poseidonsr]

Interested when you say not happy with the times etc and all the extent your going to but no intention to race what's driving it?

I'm sorry, I'm not really sure I understand your question
At this moment, I'm not considering racing at all.
I bought this car, mainly as a mechanical project for me and my kids, and secondly as a fun and light car to drive.
I said I'm not happy with these results, because I think that a car like this, 80Kg lighter than standard, having at least a free flow filter and a free flow silencer, and with relatively new PS3 tires should be able to achieve better 0-100 figures if the engine, transmission etc are 100% healthy.
Something ~6,5 I think would be a good result.
So, according to the above, I should now do more checks regarding the health of my engine, transmission etc.
If your experience dictates differently, I'd be happy to hear it.
I hope I answered your question.

 

[Filipe Dias]

I never timed my Clio 0-100 Km/h because i think it´s not worth the mechanical stress that it incurs. 60-160 Km/h with dragy i have the best of 12.97 Seconds and 431 meters to perform that. The car is a PH1 like yours and has port matched inlet manifold, 182 exhaust manifold with 182 cat and stock midpipe and final muffler.

I have measured the car on the dyno (Dyno dynamics, it´s on my thread) and makes 165Hp and 200nm. Nothing more nothing less.

From my experience, a slight timing error on the timing belt installation is pretty noticeable on the performance.

 

[Poseidonsr]

part 2 of gear linkage upgrade
- small lever bush changed to new from renault
- changed the small knurled cylinder inside the boot with a solid one I made, which has 0,4mm smaller inside diameter and 0,04mm larger outside diameter
As a result, in combination to the modified scenic lever and the powerflexed dogbone, there is virtually no play to the gear linkage !!
Very content

 

[Poseidonsr]

(teaser)

60-160 Km/h with dragy i have the best of 12.97 Seconds and 431 meters to perform that.

are they twins ?

 

[Filipe Dias]

Very identical!

But mine is slightly slower .



It´s 433meters, i tought it was 431. But was on a colder day than yours (17C vs 30C) and -0.69% Slope vs yours -0.1%

Mine made 165HP and 200nm but has stock weight. I have 182 exhaust manifold, 182 Cat, Ported inlets, Pipercross air filter.

So with the weight reduction you have it seems about right!

 

[Poseidonsr]

one more teaser (a lot of things happened in between)

 

[Filipe Dias]

You have my attention!!😎

 

[Poseidonsr]

So, the 1st modification (and most interesting) contributing to this improvement is the sequel from here
It's actually the 1st "big" project for the clio
RAM AIR Intake Part1 (aka cold air intake)
When I bought the car it had a K&N air filter without the airbox but using the factory S shaped hose.
As mentioned before I had changed the hose to a silicone 45o for better filter placement and less flow restriction.
But I knew that, engine was basically sucking hot air from the radiator.
Also even before buying the car I was imagining a RAM AIR from the 2 small parallel grilles under the front lights.
This was even a reason for selecting ph1.
So, I started a long trial and error, designing and printing, procedure for a scoop which would fit behind the grilles, go under the headlight and come behind them with fresh air, that should eventually feed a custom sealed airbox and as a result provide some pressure at high speeds.

Version7 was almost exactly what I needed for some good tests, so I paused the improving procedure.

I also found a small bucket, cut a hole and passed the air hose in such a way that the filter would only suck air from the front and not it's sides.
This is a temporary solution only for evaluating cold air effect without any ram effect.

The car felt instantly different, more alive and fast.
The base 60-140 (with 3rd gear) time of 10.6s, went easily down to 10.2 which is a 4% improvement, which I consider huge (a full custom tuned exhaust system may not show such improvement alone)
I even did some tests, where I was changing again and again the configuration without leaving the testing area so that no doubt was left.
0-100 went from 6.8 mentioned here to 6.5 which I consider good, while spinning during launch started being an issue.
Main conclusion is that, a free filter in the engine bay is not only "not as good" as an airbox, it's actually bad.
This also explains the not so good 0-100 time before. Now I'm happy with the current performance.

Only modification needed to other parts, was some trimming to the headlight mount.

Other current improvements and RAM AIR part 2 coming...

 

[Filipe Dias]

Great data. If the duct didn´t need any headlight triming i am sure a lot of people would be interested !!!

 

[Poseidonsr]

Great data. If the duct didn´t need any headlight triming i am sure a lot of people would be interested !!!

Headlight trimming is not required.
Headlight mount trimming is required but it's easier even than fitting the duct, the part is really cheap, and there are no side effects because as you can see, I only trimmed it where the factory airbox hose attaches, without affecting the points the headlight attaches.

Also I forgot to mention that, I noticed no difference to the intake sound after this cold air intake modification.

 

[Poseidonsr]

2nd "modification" contributing to this improvement is maybe not so interesting technically, but it's definitely equally impressive performance wise.
Basically I did an oil change, the first since I bought the car 5 months/900km ago.
Previous owner/shop told me that the oil was relatively fresh.
I have no idea what type ,quality ,age etc oil was there, but visually it was OK.
Before changing the oil I used a "Motor clean" from Liqui Moly and the new oil was 5W40 Molygen (same brand)
I also changed the filter.
Again the car instantly felt different, 60-140 in 3rd went from 10,2 to 9,8 which is again a huge improvement.
Most of the difference according to both my butt dyno and Racebox data where at high RPM.
I don't know how much of that difference is because my new oil is very good or my old oil was very bad, or the motor clean did it's thing.
But it's a fact that current oils are far superior than those existed 20 years ago, and as a result, a healthy engine can deliver slightly greater power than the one stated when released.
0-100 is now down to 6,3 and I really straggle to keep spinning controlled during launch.

 

[Poseidonsr]

Last modification contributing to this improvement is using some lighter wheels, but this is a separate project I haven't finished yet.
I did a lot of tests with 15/16 & 17 inch wheels, various overall diameters, different tyres including semi-slicks etc. I hope I'll decide which setup I'm using, during October.

(Also lower temperature helped for this improvement)

Right now, my current acceleration targets, during winter, are
* 0-100: <6s
* 400m: <14s
* 60-160: <11s
* 60-140 in 3rd: <9s